This invention relates to a furnace and more particularly to a furnace that is especially adapted for the combustion of fuels such as sawdust, wood chips, wood shavings, corn stalks, corn cobs, and other waste products, as well as grain, cubed artichokes, and the like.
In many rural areas of the country there is an abundance of combustible materials which could be used for fuel for the heating of residences, shops, barns, and the like. For example, many of the materials referred to above, such as corn, have excellent latent heat properties and cost considerably less per energy unit than does natural gas or fuel oil. Further, under properly controlled conditions such materials burn almost completely with very little, if any, atmospheric pollution and leave a relatively low ash residue.
The principal difficulties encountered in the utilization of such materials as fuel are in the provision of proper feeding of the fuel to a combustion zone and maintaining control over the quantity and direction of air flow through the combustion zone and through the fuel itself to ensure proper combustion of the fuel.